Rotary engine



A.F.'R EEDBR. ROTARY STEAM ENGINE.

r No. 28,305. Patented May 15, 1860.

, fy d ,y wrw.

UNITED STATES PATENT` OFFICFi.,`

A. F. REEDER, OF BLOOMINGTON, ILLINOIS.

ROTARY ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 28,305, dated May` 15, 1860.

declare that the following is a full, clear, and' exact description ofthe same, reference emo' rac o e accom an infr raw n b g l l t th g d igs, ormino' oar o iss eci ca lon inw nc g1 t fth l fi t l h l Figure 1,is a vertical section of an engine constructed according to my inventiontaken transversely to its axis as indicated by the line m, m, in Fig. 2.Fig. 2, is a vertical section of the same taken parallel with the l axisas indicated by the line y, y, in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3, is a horizontal section of the same in the plane indicated bythe line .e a in Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a central longitudinal section of therotary piston head. Fig. 5 is a diagram illustrating the construction ofthe cylinder or steam casing.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the severalfigures.

A B C C, is the cylinder or steam casing of the engine I) the rotatinO`piston head and E, E*, E, Eik, are the pistons. The portion of therevolving piston head included within the steam cylinder A B C C, isturned truly of cylindrical form but provided with shallow cavities, a ain its periphery as will be presently more fully described, and it islitted and keyed to a concentric shaft provided with journals or isfurnished at its end with journals to constitute the main shaft J of theengine and such shaft is fitted to stuffing boxes F, F, in the cylinderheads C, C. The section of the cylinder taken perpendicularly to theaxis of the piston head is of the form of two arcs bb, and cc, Figs. 1and 5, of different radius,

both concentric with the said axis, united by two concentric arcs bc,De. The arc formed portions of the cylinder, are cast in two fiangedpieces, viz., the larger concentric portion bb, in one piece A, andthearc formed portions cc bc in another piece B, which may be cast withor bolted with the base Gr, containing the steam chest H. The pieces A,B, are bolted together by bolts passing through their flanges e e andthe heads C, C, are bolted to their ends. The arc cc constitutes theface of the abutment and the space included between the arcs bb, bc, bc,and the periphery of the cylinder head constitutes the steam space inwhich the steam acts upon the piston to produce the rotary motion of thepiston head and shaft. This steam space is divided into two chambers ofequal capacity by a partition I, which is cast partly with the piece A,and partly with the piece B and which is grooved to receive packing fwhich is held tight against the periphery of the piston head by setscrews g, g, screwing into the said partition from the exterior of thesteam cylinder.

The pistons E, E`i^', E', EN, of which there are four are attachedtogether in pairs, each pair being fitted to slide radially to the axisof the rotarypiston head D in one of two slots made through the pistonhead, one pair working on one side, and the other pair on the other sideof the partition I, and one pair being arranged at right angles to theother as shown 1n Fig. l, where the pair E, Dit, is represented insection and the pair E', Eif, in dotted outline and also shown in Fig.4. The pistons are made of such width as to t between the sides of thepartition I, and the inner sides of the cylinder heads C, (l, and ofsuch length as to fit between the arcs aa, and LZ), and between the twoarcs bc, be, and are fitted with packing k, z, to keep them tight. Inorder to enable them to be set out lengthwise when they have worn loose,each pair is composed of three pieces p, q, Q, as shown in Figs. 1 and4, the piece p being made with a tongue 79', and the pieces g, g, beingfitted together with a recess in the inner face of each, to t the saidtongue, and the three pieces being secured together by screws 1*, r,passing through the said tongue and corresponding parts of the pieces g,y. The holes s in the tongue p which receive the said screws 1', 9^, areelongated in such a manner, shown in Fig. 4 that the pieces p, q, g, canbe moved endwise relating to each other.

la, Ic, and c, c, are the induction parts two on each side of thepartition I, near the terminations of the arc cc, the two c ccommunicating with a cock J and the other two c, c, with a cock J',each'of which cocks connects its respective two ports with a 'singlepassage Z or Z', opening from the steam chest H. m, m, and m m are theinduction ports two on each side of the partition I, at the junctions ofthe arc bb, with the two arcs be, the two m m being fitted with a cockK, and the two, m m with a cock K. The two sets of ports are provided topermit the engine to be driven in either direction, and only onev set ofports is open at a time, the other set being closed byV its respectivecocks.

In Fig. l, the cocks J and K, are represented open and, J and K, closedin which condition the pistons will be driven in the direction of thearrow shown in that figure.

The before mentioned cavities a, a, in the periphery of the cylindricalpiston head D, are exhibited more or less fully in all the figures butFig. 5,. rIhe said cavities are of such form as to leave of the fullsize of the cylinder only a band t, of the width of the partition I, anarrow face u at each edge of each slot through which the piston pass,and a number of narrow strips o and 'u' of which one runs of aYcircumferential direction from each face, u one on each side ofeachipiston, the strips Q) ranging with the induction ports la and thosec with the induction ports le. The cavity a forms a passage for thesteam from the induction ports to the edges of the face of the abutmentc c into the chambers in which the steam acts upon the pistons. Thestrips 'u o serve to keep the ports lo, c, closed, till their respectivepistons after passing the said ports in their revolution in the oppositedirection to the arrow shown in Fig. l, arrive in contact with the ar'cb and the strips la fu serve to keep the ports 7c lo closed till thepistons arrive in corresponding positions in their revolutions in theopposite direction.

The Ypistons Ywhilein contact with the arc bb are acted upon by thepressure of steam to produce a rotary motion for the rotating head D,and its shaft in one direction or the other according to the position ofthe cocks J, J, and K K. As eachpiston passes from the arc bb along oneof the arcs bc it is forced inward toward the axis of the head D and socaused to force out the opposite connected one so that it may come incontact with the arc bb, when it arrives opposite to it. The two pairs0f pistons being at right angles to each other, one is always subject tothe action of the steam, and the rotary motion is kept up withoutintermission.

In constructing the cylinder A B C C, I have found it best to adopt thefollowing rule to obtain its transverse sectional form.

I first describe a circle of the same diameter in the cylindricalexterior of the piston head and draw through its center the verticalline 6, 7, as shown in Fig. 5, and on this line set off from thecircumference the distance 6, 8 equal to one fth of the diameter for theheight of the abutment, and through the point 8 draw the horizontal linec, c, to obtain the arc 0c, shown in Fig. l. On this arc I set off twopoints k lc at 90O apart and at equal distances from the end of the arc,for the centers of the induction passages. Then having decided upon thethickness of the sliding pistons I describe from the center of the rstmentioned circle of a diameter equal to one-third of such thickness. Inext with one third of the diameter of the circle already described setoff from the point 7, the distance 7, 9, for the depth of the steamchamber, and continue the line 6, 7 to the point 9, and from the centerof the circle, describe the arc bb, through the point 9, obtaining thelength of the said arc by drawing the lines cb, ab, from the points c,c, touching the diameter of the small circle. I then draw the parallellines 10, 10, from the arc cc toward the arc 19,22, touching the smallercircle, and unite the said lines by an arc of the same radius as the arc00, touching the arc bb, and afterwards draw the figure 10, 10, in thetransverse position, shown in red lines and through the three points b,c, and 10, on each side of the ligure describe the arcs bc, bc. The-outer third portions of the thickness of the pistons are to be roundedoff in such a manner as to clear the arcs bc.

I do not claim the construction of the steam cylinder of two concentricarcs, united by two eccentric arcs, but:

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is--V The engine constructed with a cylinder of the form described witha partition I, with the induction ports in its abutments, and with acavity a, and series of projecting surfaces t, u, o, v, in and upon itsrotating piston head, D, substantially as herein described.

A. F. REEDER. Witnesses:

JOHN L. RoU'r'r, M. N. LARRIMARE.

